Person of Interest S5E12 Review

Harold continues on his solo quest to stop Samaritan. He steals a software program named Seltene from an American traitor, steals his car (obvious Tesla advertisement) and hops on a plane to Washington DC to infiltrate the NSA where Reese and Root also go to, after receiving the number of Greer's alias.

Harold goes deep into NSA without The Machine's help to activate Ice 9, knowing full well that it would destroy both Samaritan and The Machine. But before he can say the activation code, he is apprehended by Samaritan agents who take him to see Greer. Greer gives the whole 'Samaritan is better than The Machine' speech and then tries to kill Harold by trapping Harold with him in a room and removing all the oxygen. Greer dies but Harold manages to survive thanks to Reese and Shaw setting up The Machine within the NSA building with a wireless modem. With the NSA in panic mode thanks to The Machine making a fake emergency, Harold helps Reese and Shaw escape while he goes to shut down Samaritan. Samaritan tries to convince Harold to stop killing his own creation but Harold refuses to listen to it and activates Ice 9, thanking The Machine for all it has done before its demise.

Not forgetting Fusco, he gets himself into a pickle when he gets kidnapped by an FBI agent who was an agent of Samaritan that was responsible for the tunnel bodies Fusco uncovered. But Fusco manages to capture him after the guy shoots him without knowing Fusco was wearing a bulletproof vest. For all the crazy that happened in this episode, Fusco's story felt rather out of place.

Lastly, let's talk about the alternate scenarios. At first I found it strange that the Machine was showing Harold just a few possible scenarios but then I realised that The Machine was showing him the most likely scenarios had it not existed. The Machine was also trying to reassure Harold that its creation was beneficial for the world, a smart move considering how Harold is always worried about its potential for destruction.

I felt that the end was poetic. Harold killed what he loved to save his friends and the world. He knew it would hurt him, but he did it anyway. The funny thing about this season is that this season has provided the most episodes which deserve to be in the top 5 episode list, which makes it very hard to maintain my personal list. This episode was really exceptional. For his directorial debut, Greg Plageman did a great job. I only hope the last episode is as epic as this episode.

Quote of the week: "Who am I? I'm just like you Mr. Barnett, A man who sold the world. Only I charged them a dollar."